Iraq has resumed normal oil exports from its Gulf port of Mina al-Bakr following a month-long interruption due to a dispute with the UN over prices, an official daily Al-Qadissaya reported Tuesday.

Seven oil tankers have been loaded over the past 10 days, "loading operations are now continuing normally and other tankers are expected at the (Mina al-Bakr) terminal in the coming days", the newspaper said.

The paper added that exports were going ahead "despite the refusal of the UN sanctions committee to approve contracts for spare parts to rehabilitate Iraq's oil installations".

Oil Minister Amer Rashid told Al-Qadissaya that Iraq had so far received 450 million dollars worth of oil industry spare parts out of a total of 1.9 billion dollars worth of deals submitted to the UN for approval.

According to UN figures, $1.24 billion worth of oil spare parts contracts have been approved and $331.5 million worth placed "on hold", while the rest has yet to be examined.

Iraq has been under embargo since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait but is authorised to export crude under strict UN supervision in return for imports of humanitarian supplies and essential goods.

The UN sanctions committee in December rejected a new formula proposed by Iraq for the pricing of its crude amid controversy over Baghdad's efforts to impose a surcharge to be paid outside UN control.—AFP.